Memory prices on the rise

LONDON – Industry consolidation to just three major DRAM suppliers helped to send DRAM average selling prices (ASPs) up 13 percent year-over-year in January, according to IC Insights Inc. The market research firm reckons NAND flash ASPs increased 37 percent year-over-year in January.

This contributed to a 19.9 percent annual jump in the value of the total memory market and 6.2 percent annual increase in the total IC market, the market research firm said.

Significant reductions in capital equipment spending among DRAM manufacturers are expected to stabilize prices at a minimum, but more likely will help drive prices higher through the rest the year, the company said. Capex budgets are also being trimmed for NAND flash – although not as much as for DRAM – that, along with unit demand for things like solid-state drives, is going to put upward pressure on ASPs for NAND flash.

Since 2003, the January DRAM market has averaged year-over-year growth of 18.7 percent, but in 2013, DRAM sales beat that mark by growing 21.0 percent. Meanwhile, January year-over-year sales of NAND flash jumped 23.4 percent, which was 4.4 points less than it has averaged over the past 10 years.

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Capex and ASP trends and forecasts for 2013 for NAND flash and DRAM. Source: IC Insights.